Utah Can Cover at Washington State

Utah vs. Washington State, 10 ET

Sometimes you see a line that makes you really question things. Those little numbers next to a team probably provide too much influence in decision-making as well. But looking at this game, you see #14 Utah takes on Washington State on the road.

On the surface, Utah is clearly the better team in this game. As I'm diving into the research for the game, I still think they are the better team and have a clear edge here. Why do I think the line for the game is so close? Mostly because I think the books expect a letdown type game after Utah has played tough opponents for multiple weeks in a row. Last week they won at home against USC, the week before that, they traveled to UCLA and lost by 10. Cameron Rising is doing a really solid job at the helm of the offense and keeping the team in just about every game. So far, the Utes are scoring 40.7 points on average. Washington State has a solid enough defense, but I think that the edge is towards Utah in this game.

Washington State is not a bad team, don't get me wrong. I feel like I might've dismissed them playing against a ranked opponent or something. That really isn't the case. It is more that nothing about their team really stands out to me. They are good at controlling the pace of the game and not letting most games get away from them. They have lost three of their last four games with two of them on the road against pretty solid competition. If we are looking at mutual opponents, Washington State lost its past two games to Oregon State and USC. Utah faced those same two opponents recently - both were home games for Utah - and they won both of those games.

With both of them coming off of a bye week, they should be in a good situation to be prepared for each other. The simple truth here is I think Utah is the better team. I read that Utah hasn't won on the road at Washington State since 2011. To me that is one of those irrelevant stats. I'm taking Utah -7 in this one.

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